Consumer Information Regarding our Home Equity Lines of Credit
Interest Only
Lines of credit of this type allow the borrower to make minimum monthly payments of interest only and do not require principal reduction. If you pay only the amounts of interest billed, the entire amount of the principal outstanding will be due when you decide to payoff your Home Equity Total Line of Credit (HETLOC).
Home Equity
Home equity is created when the value of your home increases while the amount of debt outstanding against the home remains stable or decreases, or the value of your home remains stable while the debt decreases. If you are granted an application for a HETLOC that provides for minimum payments of interest only, you may not be building equity in your home. If you allow the monthly interest payments to be made through increase draws on the HETLOC you may actually be decreasing the equity in your home. This may make it harder to refinance your mortgage, or to receive funds from the sale of your home. In fact, if the amount you owe on your home, along with the costs associated with selling (such as the real estate sales commissions and closing costs) exceed the sales price, you will not receive any cash when you sell, and will have to pay additional funds to your lender or to other parties when you pay off your mortgage.
Prepayment Penalties
The only penalty associated with your loan is if you reduce the principal loan balance outstanding to zero AND ask that your HETLOC be terminated and the mortgage lien satisfied DURING the first three years of the life of the HETLOC for reasons other than the sale of your home.
Fair Lending Policy Statement
It is the policy of this corporation and its affiliates (the "Bank") that no person shall be discriminated against by the Bank in the granting or extension of credit, or in the capacity or privilege of obtaining credit, on the basis of race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, marital status, handicap, familial status,
that part (or all) of the applicant's income is from public assistance programs (such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Social Security, and non-cash benefits such as food stamps),
or the fact that the applicant has in good faith exercised any right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act. The Bank will comply with all requirements of the Federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Federal Reserve Board Regulation B as well as the Fair Housing Act and all other similar laws, both state and federal.
The Bank will not:
- deny credit to any applicant based on the above prohibited factors;
- increase the charge for credit to any applicant based on the above prohibited factors;
- restrict the use or amount of credit to any applicant based on the above prohibited factors;
- use different credit application procedures for any applicant based on the above prohibited factors;
- use credit evaluation criteria for any applicant based on the above prohibited factors.
